Award Season: The Academy Awards
The Academy Awards (also known as The Oscars) were held Sunday night in Los Angeles, and here in the UK that meant staying up late to watch them. I mean 1am late. But nevertheless the Oscars were worth staying up for.
After a long year of lockdown and cinemas being closed there were lots of scepticism over how well the Academy Awards were going to play out. Films that were promised released dates in 2020 were pushed back until cinemas can reopen and some films were pushed straight to streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ among others. We can all agree that the last year for film has been an odd one to say the least and a struggle for film fanatics to see the Oscar nominated films.
Although I missed out on watching the BAFTA's I made an effort to try and watch as many Oscar nominated films that I could access in the lead up to the night. Although I didn't get to watch all of the Best Picture nominees due to some of them being unavailable in the UK and will premiere at a later date in the Summer, some of the contenders were amazing this year.
I really felt that there were more diverse subject matters being portrayed in the films put forward for each category. I absolutely fell in love with Sound of Metal and Promising Young Woman; Sound of Metal really moved me in the way it deals with struggling to come to grips of someone losing their hearing as well as learning about communities that move on and learn to live without hearing aids. Promising Young Woman really hit home on the MeToo movement and I feel that it's a film a lot of people, women specifically, will watch and be like "wow I have heard that saying a million times" and want to roll their eyes over the prejudices women face on a daily basis. These two films were great.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Mank can both be viewed on Netflix and I could predict that they would be up for Costume Design and Production Design. These were both good films but the narratives did not steal me as much as Sound of Metal and Promising Young Woman. Another great Netflix feature is My Octopus Teacher which a friend of mine recommended to me and after viewing it I fell in love with the story and recommend it to everyone now. Among all nominated there were some great films from the selection and I'm gutted that I didn't get to see them all before the Awards night.
A few of my friends and I did a predictions of the Oscars to see who could predict the most wins and here are my predictions:
After watching the Academy Awards...
I thought the ceremony was very sophisticated this year and respectful. Regina King opened the show and announced all the various ways in which the Academy could make this happen, with strict testing and vaccinations to make sure people could enjoy the night in a safe environment. The Oscars have seemed to get rid of the comedic element with their various hosts and rather focused on serious matters at large; reflecting on the previous year and how much change we as humans have gone through and experienced. Although there were still jokes and quick comments brought into speeches it felt like a much more respected ceremony than years past. I feel like that it almost gave off the same atmosphere as the BAFTA's as it was more of a professional environment.
The whole award show was fascinating to watch and each host spoke of why filmmakers have their passion for films and what inspired them to enter this industry as well as remarking on some of the amazing performances we witness in the films nominated. The Oscars always do well to remind people to be theirselves and fight for what they believe in and raise awareness for everything going on in the world today.
Halfway through the show the Oscars announced their Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award that was awarded to Tyler Perry and MPTF (Motion Picture & Television Fund). It was really enlightening to hear about Tyler Perry's upbringing and what he did throughout the pandemic and still does to this day. He was awarded for creating a Camp Quarantine at his production studios so people could safely continue to work among other amazing acts he, and his Perry Foundation company, has done throughout his life. His speech was inspirational and talked of not judging anyone you meet and there being no need for hate, it was really inspiring to hear and learn about where he came from, once being homeless himself, and seeing what he has made of hisself and his efforts to help those around him.
Some of my favourite highlights from the night included learning from Emerald Fennell that Promising Young Woman was made in 23 days in the lead up to the birth of her child! There were some amazing speeches that were so moving, from the emotional speech given by Thomas Vinters for his win for Another Round (International Film) where he spoke about the film being a monument for his daughter who passed before the film was made; to Chloé Zhao talking about what it meant for her as a filmmaker when she won Directing for Nomadland.
Likewise we did have some hilarious moments, most importantly from Yuh-Jung Youn's fangirl moment when Brad Pitt announced she had won Actress in a Supporting Role for Minari. She was more gobsmacked at being in the presence of Pitt himself than winning the award and her speech was full of laughter when she spoke about thanking her sons for making her work. We also got to witness Glenn Close get up and do "Da Butt" dance, alongside Frances McDormand's wolf howl at winning Best Picture for Nomadland.
Overall I thought The Academy Awards really outdid themselves this year. Yes, it was a smaller audience, change of location (at Union Station as opposed to the Dolby Theatre) and still used live footage of filmmakers all over the world (Zoom will still be a thing forevermore) and yet it felt so new and improved from previous years.
Did you watch the Oscars? If so, what was your favourite part of the night and do you think other nominees should have won the award?
Enjoy x
*****************
Winners are in bold.
Best Picture
The Father
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
Minor
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Directing
Thomas Vinterberg, Another Round
David Fincher, Mank
Lee Isaac Chung, Minari
Chloé Zhao, Nomadland
Emerald Fennell, Promising Young Woman
Actress In A Leading Role
Viola Davis, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Andre Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Vanessa Kirby, Pieces of a Woman
Frances McDormand, Nomadland
Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman
Actor In A Leading Role
Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal
Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Anthony Hopkins, The Father
Gary Oldman, Mank
Steven Yeun, Minari
Actress In A Supporting Role
Maria Bakalova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy
Olivia Colman, The Father
Amanda Seyfried, Mank
Yuh-Jung Youn, Minari
Actor In A Supporting Role
Sacha Baron Cohen, The Trial of the Chicago 7
Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah
Leslie Odom Jr., One Night in Miami...
Paul Raci, Sound of Metal
LaKeith Stanfield, Judas and the Black Messiah
Original Screenplay
Judas and the Black Messiah
Minor
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Adapted Screenplay
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
The Father
Nomadland
One Night in Miami...
The White Tiger
Animated Feature
Onward
Over The Moon
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Armageddon
Soul
Wolfwalkers
Documentary Feature
Collective
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Time
International Feature Film
Another Round
Better Days
Collective
The Man Who Sold His Skin
Quo Vadis, Aida?
Original Score
Da 5 Bloods
Mank
Minor
News of the World
Soul
Original Song
Fight For You - Judas and the Black Messiah
Hear My Voice - The Trail of the Chicago 7
Husavik - Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
Io si (Seen) - The Life Ahead
Speak Now - One Night in Miami...
Sound
Greyhound
Mank
News of the World
Soul
Sound of Metal
Makeup and Hairstyling
Emma
Hillbilly Elegy
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Mank
Pinocchio
Costume Design
Emma
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Mank
Mulan
Pinocchio
Cinematography
Judas and the Black Messiah
Mank
News of the World
Nomadland
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Production Design
The Father
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Mank
News of the World
Tenet
Film Editing
The Father
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Sound of Metal
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Visual Effects
Love and Monsters
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Tenet
Colette
A Concerto is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
A Love Song for Latasha
Feeling Through
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers
White Eye
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You
Opera
Yes-People
Comments
Post a Comment